Aims & Values

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” WB Yeats

At Bealings, we believe we learn best when:

there is a real reason for learning something

because it is enjoyable and intrinsically rewarding

when we want to learn in order to get better at something in which we are already interested

As Margaret Donaldson, “Children’s Minds” says:

“No-one learns anything by first mastering skills. Children learn in meaningful contexts – by trial and error, and furthermore this learning must be intrinsically rewarding.”

We believe that the best conditions for learning are usually in a relaxed, but focused atmosphere where you can enjoy “having a go” at a wide range of activities incorporating dance, drama, art, music, poetry, storytelling, games, reading, discussions, maths, science, learning about other cultures and languages and so on.

We subscribe to a pluralistic view of intelligence, supported by over 30 years of international research, in which there are at least 8 recognised “intelligences”. A person may have a leaning towards the musical and mathematical intelligences. Someone else’s strengths may be in the Physical and Inter-Personal.

The 8 currently recognized are:

Linguistic

Musical

Logical-mathematical

Spatial

Bodily-kinesthetic

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Naturalist

We aim to encourage children in their strengths, whilst also being mindful that there are different learning styles: auditory, visual, kinaesthetic! So, you may learn best when you can see something drawn out (like information shown in a diagram) or be an excellent listener, or need to move around and use your whole body more, or a combination of all three!

Everyone deserves a say in what goes on in the school and so there is a weekly school meeting when everyone meets and everyone has the opportunity to raise points for discussion and vote on new proposals.

Recently, we have been developing realistic learning contexts through Drama, particularly a system known as Mantle ofthe Expert, developed by Dorothy Heathcote, University of Newcastle.